go on fire

‘We are very thankful to everyone who helped at the scene and to whoever sprayed the car with a fire extinguisher and stopped it going on fire,’ reflected Tom McDonald, father of Tomás.

It is understood that controlled burning was taking place at the premises around noon but the fire spread to a stack of some 2,000 pallets and as the blaze took hold a 40-foot container filled with cured sheepskin rugs also went on fire.

AROUND 360 pupils had to be evacuated from a Bessbrook primary school and sheltered in a nearby church hall after part of the school's roof went on fire.

Origin

In ancient and medieval thought fire was seen, along with water, air, and earth, as one of the four elements. The word goes back to an ancient root that also gave us the Greek word for fire, pur, the source of pyre (mid 17th century) and pyromaniac (mid 19th century). The phrase fire and brimstone is a traditional description of the torments of hell. In the biblical book of Revelation there is a reference to ‘a lake of fire burning with brimstone’. Brimstone (Old English) is an old word for sulphur, and literally means ‘burning stone’. A fire-and-brimstone sermon is one that gives vivid warning of the dangers of going to hell if you misbehave. To set the world on fire is to do something remarkable. An earlier British version was to set the Thames on fire, and a Scottish one is set the heather on fire. Whichever version is used, it tends to be with a negative implication. In Anthony Trollope's novel The Eustace Diamonds ( 1873) Lady Glencora is clear about the limitations of ‘poor Lord Fawn’ who ‘will never set the Thames on fire’.